CHA gives a “must do better” grade on Public Housing Plan

CHA gives Government a “must do
better” grade on Public Housing Plan capital investment

Community Housing Aotearoa applauds the Government for
publishing a Public Housing Plan, but says the 6,400 funded
units are far too few given the growing needs of over 10,500
applications on the social housing register.

Chief
Executive Scott Figenshow says the Public Housing Plan,
released today by Housing Minister Phil Twyford, disappoints
in the small number of funded housing units.

“We are
underwhelmed by the quantity desired by the Government as it
will not put a dent in the genuine social housing demand,
and it does not activate the capability of the community
housing sector.

“Having said that, our expectations
for this plan were low, because of the lack of investment
allocated in the May budget. We want to see the Government
significantly investing in this plan in Budget 2019, and
we’ll be pushing the Government hard on that. There are
currently over 5,000 homes in the community housing sector
pipeline over the next two years, but that declines to less
than 900 given the lack of available capital funding.”

Community Housing Aotearoa keenly awaits further
information about expanding resources to get more New
Zealanders into warm, dry, affordable homes.

“We
understand looking after the ‘missing middle’ will be a
focus of the new Ministry of Housing and Urban Development,
and we look forward to movement in that area.”

Scott
Figenshow says the single biggest handicap for the community
housing sector is the lack of upfront capital investment for
new housing construction. As cited in the “Following the
Money” reported released earlier this week from the Centre
for Research, Evaluation and Social Assessment, our
production of lower quartile homes has dropped due a lack of
direct capital investment over decades.

“This plan
fails to provide that, so we expect this to be an issue that
is remedied in future plans,” he says.

As the
representative body for community housing providers,
Community Housing Aotearoa is very pleased to see the views
of providers reflected in the contracting framework in the
new plan.

“The Government has listened to sector
ideas and concerns and has adopted many of the proposed
solutions. We hope this signals a permanent change in
approach, one that the new Ministry of Housing and Urban
Development will make part of its organisational culture,”
Scott Figenshow says.

It is also great to see a plan
that is open across all of New Zealand, with the operating
supplement and market rent now available in all parts of the
country, he says.

“We have called for an open
approach that lets providers bring proposals to Government
as the opportunity arises, and we hope the new strategic
partnering approach will deliver on
that.”

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